Williston Herald (Williston, North Dakota)

Skadeland is the head coach for the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo. Among the teams Skadeland scheduled her team to face in the three-day tournament was the Grand Canyon Antelopes, of Phoenix.

Ordinarily, this may seem just like another match on the schedule. However, Skadeland's younger sister, Jenna, is a senior middle hitter for the Lady Antelopes.
The two faced off in a match on Aug. 28 with the younger Skadeland coming out on the winning side as Grand Canyon won 3-1.

"That was my doing," the older Skadeland said. "I purposely put them against us, I wanted to see a team from their conference."

Both were quick to acknowledge that this particular match was just like any other.

"It's just like any other game, except I knew the coach" Jenna said. "But I am more focused on beating the team."

"It went good," Jamie said. "My focus was on my team and our goals for the tournament."

The Aug. 28 match wasn't the first time the sisters had competed against each other. In 2005, they squared off while Jenna was at the University of North Dakota and Jamie was coaching at Minnesota State University - Mankato.

This recent match, however, was likely more meaningful to the Skadeland sisters. The match was played on the day of their parents' (Donn and Jan) 27th wedding anniversary and were in attendance to watch their daughters battle it out.

"We really didn't have a chance to do anything for them," Jenna said. "My parents are amazing people. They are the coolest people I know."

"They have a very strong bond," Jamie said of her parents. "They have set a good example of what marriage is supposed to be."

Jamie is her second year as head coach of the Oredigger program. Previously, she spent two seasons as an assistant coach at MSU-Mankato where she earned her Master's in sports psychology. She played volleyball at UND from 2001 to 2004.

Jenna is in her second and final season at Grand Canyon. She attended UND for two years, only playing volleyball for one season. She then returned home to attend Williston State College for a year before moving out West. She heard of Grand Canyon by doing a google search on the Internet in the middle of winter.

"It's nice," Jenna said of living in Arizona. "It's a bit hot. But the winter time is so awesome."

While Jamie is content with her position as head coach, is Jenna is preparing for her days after volleyball. She is currently studying psychology and plans to attend graduate school in Colorado.